InDesign

Select a data source

Before you insert fields into your target document, select a data source in the Data Merge panel. You can have only one data source file selected per target document.

  1. Create or open the document you’ll be using as the target document.
  2. Choose Window > Automation > Data Merge.
  3. Choose Select Data Source from the Data Merge panel menu.
  4. To change delimited text options, select Show Import Options.

    InDesign automatically detects the type of delimiter and encoding used in the data source file, so showing the import options usually isn’t necessary. However, you can specify different encoding and delimiter options if you think they haven’t been correctly identified.

  5. Locate the data source file, and click Open.
  6. If you selected Show Import Options, change the delimiter and encoding options as necessary, and then click OK. The data fields appear in the Data Merge panel.
Note: If an alert message indicates that it cannot open the file, or if incorrect fields appear in the list box, you may need to edit the spreadsheet or database file and save it as a comma-delimited or text-delimited file.

Once the data source is selected and fields are loaded in the Data Merge panel, any changes made to the data source are not reflected in the target document until you update the data source.